Snowflakes and Stardust
by LaraIsWrite
Summary: A happy ending for all. SPOILER ALERT! If you are currently reading my story 'An Eager Heart and Distant Soul' and don't like spoilers, I highly recommend that you not read this one yet. It takes place in Innauriel's future. I just had this insatiable urge to write this scene down and since it pertains to my friend's current storyline, she asked that I post it up for her readers.


**Snowflakes and Stardust**

The air was crisp and cool as the two elves walked smoothly atop the snowcovered ground, weaving around the snowy, barren trees. It had been a long journey from Rivendell, with a rather long stay at the Inn of the Prancing Pony, but they had finally made it to their destination. Snowflakes falling enchantingly about them, the elves watched in silent reverie as they walked passed the snow-laden branches of the forest of Evendim and onto the cold, white shore of the lake. Awestruck, Faerdhinen let out a sigh as her sea grey eyes took in the pure, undisturbed beauty of it all- the nearly frozen surface of the lake, snow covering every rock tree and shrub, the majestic waterfall to the north across the water's expanse, the heavy silence as if they had stepped into a bubble which isolated the from the rest of the world. It was breath taking, to say the least. The elleth turned her gaze to her companion when she felt him grasp her hand. She smiled, returning the gesture and turned to face him. His hand brushed her cheek softly as he looked down at her, his bright green eyes filled with admiration of the young elleth standing before him. "It's beautiful," she said softly, not wanting to break the quiet atmosphere around them.

Glorfindel wrapped an arm about her waist and drew her closer. "Not as beautiful as you," he replied with a charming expression on his features.

Fae chuckled. "Now now, meleth nin, we agreed no cheesy lines back in Bree. Remember?"

The ellon laughed. "Not really. The only thing I seem to be able to remember from there is a certain elleth challenging me to a drink off." His eyes twinkled merrily. "I still think I won."

She tried her best to give him a reproachful look but it came out as merely amused. "If Butterbur's word means anything, and I think it does, neither of us won. Thank Valar no other edhyl were around to see us thrown over shoulder and carried up the stairs to our room like a sack of overgrown potatoes!"

Knowing full well she was right, Glorfindel shook his head in disbelief. "I hope we didn't drain the man's supply of spirits. I was actually hoping we could enjoy a slightly less drunken evening there on the way home."

Fae nodded in agreement then said, "I'd be willing to bet he stays well stocked. We're not the first pair of rowdy elves to go through there, I'm sure."

Returning their attention to the frozen landscape before them, the golden haired ellon took her by the hands and led her away from the edge of the forest. He stopped when they reached the lake edge. "I can't believe how lucky I am to have found you," he said, unable to take his eyes off of her. The elleth smiled bashfully but before she could brush his compliment away he went on. "Honestly, my heart was hollow, my life meaningless for a hundred years. I considered sailing into the west more times than I can count but there was always some part of me that was still holding out for something. It was torture not knowing what that was…" He grimaced at the dark memories. Faerdhinen reached up and caressed his face comfortingly. His hand clasped over her's and a smile spread across his features. "And then I met you and knew… you were the very thing my heart was holding out for."

The elleth giggled. "Its too bad I was enamoured with…" She cringed, not even wanting to say the man's name.

Glorfindel chuckled. "Yes, it really was. Although, I had some words with him on that subject. Over a pint or two…or ten." Fae laughed at this, remembering the end of that night all too well.

* * *

_Innauriel huffed in frustration as Haladdin came stumbling into their room at the Prancing Pony wreaking of ale and pipeweed. "Baby," he slurred, crashing into a chair in the dark on his way to the bed. "Baby, have I told you how much I love you?" She sighed, grimacing everytime he called her baby, and rolled over in the bed, turning her back to him. "Baby, are you awake?" The bed shook as he toppled onto it and practically crashed on top of her. "Oof! Sorry..." He sat up and steadied himself at the edge before leaning over to remove his boots. "Baby, come on... wake up. I have to tell you how much I lo- oof!" The man's words were cut short as he fell face first to the floor. "Ow... uhg... what am I doing on the floor?!"_

_The elleth couldn't take it anymore. Torn between bursting out in uncontrollable laughter and all out rage, she shot up and glared down at her drunk lover. "You have got to be kidding me!" Hands on her hips, she walked to the small table where her boots and cloak were neatly set, her anger at Haladdin winning over the humor of any silly, drunken antics. "You forbid me from doing anything fun and free-spirited without you and yet you yourself are constantly abandoning me until the wee hours of the morning, coming back so intoxicated that you can't even sit without falling?! And here you are, telling me you love me." Her eyes bore down on him like red hot branding irons. Even in his drunken stupor, Haladdin knew he had truly angered the elf maid. She shoved her feet into her boots and slid one of her daggers into the right one. "I am so sick of your games, Haladdin. And your insecurities. And your mistrust." Throwing her cloak over her shoulders she began to make her way to the door._

_Haladdin found his feet quickly and rushed to cut her off, grabbing her arm to bring her to a stop. She flinched at the pressure but made no complaint, merely glaring daggers at him. "Baby, I'm sorry. I know. Its just so hard for me to trust anyone after what Tianna did to me."_

_Innauriel's brow furrowed, making her look both enraged and taken aback. "Who?"_

_The man froze, eyes wide as he realized what he'd said. "Who what?" he asked, trying to play dumb._

_Her eyes narrowed. "Let me through, Haladdin, or so help me I will hang you by your toes and leave you to dry!"_

_"Well that's not very ni-"_

_Innauriel cut the man off by grabbing him by the neck and shoving him into the wall beside them. Before she could even think to stop herself, her knee had made a violent connection with his groin, causing the drunk man to moan in pain and fall to his knees. Without saying another word, the elleth strode out of the room and made her way swiftly to the street outside. Once on the street, she continued to walk all the way to the little town's borders where she finally stopped and stood silently for a moment, staring up at the sky. "Rhaich! Pe-channas! (curses! idiot!)" she yelled, throwing her fists at an invisible enemy. "Dol gin lost (your head is empty), Faerdhinen Innauriel!" The elleth continued to scold herself for several minutes in her native tongue before she finally noticed someone watching from her peripheral vision. She turned sharply, swooping down and pulling out her dagger smoothly in the process._

_The intruder raised his hands in surrender, a worried expression on his face. "I mean no harm, hiril vuin (my lady). Forgive me, I heard your rant and thought you could use a friendly shoulder." His green eyes twinkled as he spoke._

_The elleth put her weapon back and let out a long, weary sigh. "Le suilon (i greet you), Glorfindel. I'm sorry you had to hear all of that."_

_Glorfindel shook his head, smiling. "Don't be," he said, making his way to the forlorn looking elleth's side. "I've heard much worse things. Besides, everyone needs to vent every once in a while. Do you want to talk about it?"_

_With another sigh, Innauriel suddenly found herself pouring her heart out to the golden haired ellon, her shoulders falling more and more as she confessed her troubles with Haladdin- his temper, selfishness, refusal to trust, hypocrisy, and worst of all his uncanny ability to manipulate her. But even worse was how this all made the elleth feel about herself. Tears filled her eyes as she mused how much respect she had lost for herself, how weak and powerless she was against his manipulations, how much she missed her mother and father and friends back in Lorien. It all overwhelmed her so quickly that she thought she might drown under the force of it. She wasn't sure how they had gotten there but by the end of her venting, Innauriel and Glorfindel were sitting in the grass underneath a large oak tree. He was holding her and whispering gentle reassurances as she wept into his shoulder. Rays of sunlight could be seen peeking over the mountain range in the east now. The elleth sniffed one last time and sat up, rubbing her tear stained face on her sleeve. "I'm sorry, Glorfindel. I didn't think I was going to break down like that. Its just that... he makes me so angry. Every moment is torture now because I can never tell if he's being earnest or just trying to keep me around so he won't be alone again." The elleth leaned back against the tree trunk. "That's not love. It never was to begin with."_

_"Love or infatuation, you can't beat yourself up for pursuing a chance at happiness." Glorfindel said earnestly. "You have to strive for the things that you think will make you happy- sometimes those things don't end up working out but you'll be that much closer to getting it right the next time. What's important in those situations is knowing when to say 'enough is enough'." The ellon gave her an encouraging smile. Truly, he spoke from the heart and his own experiences, but he couldn't deny there was a part of him that said this last bit because he wanted to liberate Innauriel from her controlling, mortal lover for his own purposes._

_Innauriel nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose you're right. I must admit, this isn't the first time I've considered breaking things off with him. He always seems to know my intentions though and suddenly becomes so amiable and loving." She rolled her eyes as the night's incident flashed through her mind. "He's not going to be able to recover from tonight though."_

_Glorfindel eyed her curiously. "Why is that?"_

_"He came back into our room a little while ago, piss drunk," she explained heatedly. The ellon suppressed a chuckle at the strange dialect she had picked up from Haladdin. "After telling me he didn't want me going to pubs or social gatherings without him, he continually goes out without me and returns completely wasted. I'm sick of it! I told him from the very beginning that trust was important to me and its so obvious that he is incapable of trusting me. And he calls me baby. I hate that! What respectable, grown being would want to be called a baby?!"_

_He cleared his throat, holding back yet another laugh. "I think perhaps its a human term of endearment. He probably can't comprehend just how old you really are- in human terms, of course. I feel I must confess something though..." Innauriel gave him a look of friendly inquiry. "Well, erm... I'm afraid I was a tad responsible for Haladdin's condition tonight. We were talking in the pub and I inadvertently challenged him to a drinking competition."_

_"Inadvertently?"_

_"Well... it may have been more... 'egging him on' as he put it." The ellon smirked. "He kept going on about his drinking prowess and I may have commented that his 'prowess' could never surpass that of an edhel. It would seem he has an issue with pride as well as all those other things you mentioned."_

_The elleth laughed. "That is true. He wouldn't back down from a challenge even if Morgoth himself were whispering his demise over his shoulder." Silence fell for a few moments, Glorfindel watching Innauriel chew on her bottom lip thoughtfully. She knew what she had to do but Glorfindel could see there was something holding her back. It had been holding her back for quite a while. Finally she sighed, some strands of her hair falling in front of her eyes. "As strange as this seems, after being part of a couple, the thought of leaving him makes me fear the loneliness that would occur."_

_Glorfindel gave her a reassuring smile and brushed the red strands behind her ear. "You wouldn't be alone, Faerdhinen Innauriel. I will keep you company. And your family will always be there. Your friends from Lothlorien too and your new friends in Imladis. There are far better people in your life to keep you company than the man who is making you feel so miserable."_

_"You make a fair point. But… well, also I don't want to be one of those edhyl that only associates with other edhyl. I want diversity," she explained, her grey eyes cast to the ground._

_He tilted her chin up so that she would look into his eyes. "You don't have to deal with adversity to have diversity, mellon nin." Glorfindel wanted so badly to tell her flat out that she should just leave the mortal. That the way he saw him treating her since the first day he met them made the ellon want to slit the human's throat. But he knew Innauriel had to come to this decision on her own. Throwing his opinions in would only make her cling more stubbornly to the despicable man._

_Innauriel gazed into his green eyes as the ellon spoke, seeing in their depths just how much he cared for her. Haladdin never looked at her like that anymore. In fact, now that she thought about it, he had never regarded her with such raw affection. It was a nice feeling. Slowly their faces began to come closer and closer together. Glorfindel's fingers were still lightly touching under her chin, the contact sending shivers up the elleth's spine. Noses barely an inch apart, the two seemed to simultaneously regain control of themselves. Just as quickly as the moment had fallen on them, it shattered with the reality that Innauriel was technically still unavailable._

_"I'm sorry," Glorfindel uttered as they moved away from each other again. 'So this was how it felt for Gil-wen and Thranduil then,' he thought, understanding finally giving him complete closure. "I don't know what came over me."_

_"Don't be sorry," Innauriel replied, taking a deep calming breath. "You weren't the only one leaning in for that one." She gave a dry laugh. "Glorfindel... I..." She sighed as she watched his eyes light up with hope. "I should be getting back. With any luck, Dinn will have perished of over-drinking or something." The joke was in poor taste but there was a large part of both elves that hoped she was right. With that the elleth stood and walked back to her room, her mind reeling over the feelings she suddenly realized she had for the balrog slayer and anxiety over what she was going to do about it._

* * *

Faerdhinen let out a sigh. "You gave me such great advice that night. I wish I would have taken it right then and there, instead of dragging it all out for even longer."

The ellon shook his head. "You and me both. But you got there eventually and thats all that matters now." He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close to him, placing a tender kiss on her lips.

She draped her arms around his strong shoulders, cold snowflakes landing on her bare hands suddenly reminding her of the snow falling about them. "So why did you insist on us coming out here in the winter? I mean, it is beautiful but this snow is bound to start affecting us sooner or later."

Glorfindel chuckled at her frankness. 'Always going back to practicalities, this one. But I suppose now would be a good time...' He reached back and took her small hands into his own, planting a fervent kiss on her fingers. "I brought us to Lake Evendim because this is where you finally chose me. Because it was the perfect place..." He suddenly got to his knees before her and gazed up nervously. "Fae, you saved me from a life of heartache and loneliness. You helped me to see the edhel I truly am, that I didn't have to change to be happy with another. You showed me that no matter how dark and hopeless things may seem, there is always a light waiting to be found somewhere out there. A light that would complete you. And now... now I couldn't imagine going on without that light." Her grey eyes began to tear up as realization dawned on her. Smiling, Glorfindel reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a delicate looking black titanium ring topped with a beautifully cut, diamond-shaped ruby surrounded by tiny diamonds and continued, "Faerdhinen Innauriel, light of my life, will you marry me?"

Fae gasped as the words came out of his mouth. She choked back a sob, a single tear rolling down her fair cheek. Unable to speak, the elleth nodded fervently, falling to her knees in front of him and flinging her arms around his shoulders. Tears of joy trickled down her cheeks as Glorfindel wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly. He felt ecstatic she had said yes. For several moments, Fae and Fin knelt there, intertwined in each others arms, unwilling to let the other go. Finally Glorifindel pulled just a little bit away from her and held up the ring between their faces. He watched her joyous, tear stained expression change to awe as her beautiful grey eyes took in the ring's elegant appearance. "Fin..." Her voice came out in a feeble whisper, her mind wonderfully overwhelmed by her lover's surprise proposal. "Its beautiful." Her eyes returned to his and she smiled as he slipped the piece of jewelry onto her finger and kissed her hand.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you, melleth nin," he replied, a mischievous glint in his green eyes. He knew she would be struck by the cheesiness of that line but he also knew, even though she tried with all her might to despise lines like that, the elleth secretly loved to hear them.

She giggled at his words. Placing her hands lovingly on his chest, she gave him a light kiss and said, "You do realize you're going to have to pay for that silly line, right?" Then, before he could reply, the elleth shoved him backwards into the cold, wet snow beneath them.

Glorfindel had been expecting something like this. Catching his fiancee by surprise, he grabbed her by the hips and brought her down with him, laughing heartily as they went. The two grappled playfully at the lake's edge, both trying to get the upper hand. They threw handful after handful of snow into the other's face and down their shirts but neither would let the other win. Occasionally, he would let her get to her feet and start away- only to run after her and catch her up into his arms, starting the whole process all over again. This went on for a good hour before the two noticed the sun had sunk beneath the horizon and the air had much more of a cold bite to it. "We should get back to camp," Glorfindel said as they laid on their backs next to each other, catching their breath from the epic tussle in the snow. They stared up, mesmerized, at the clear dark sky above them. The stars twinkled brightly down at them. Faerdhinen made a soft hum of agreement and rolled onto her side. She clasped the ellon's arm and rested her head on his shoulder, keeping her eyes ever upward. A star shot across the sky above them, a silvery-white tail following dedicatedly behind it. With one hand beneath his head, the ellon slipped his other arm underneath her and pulled her closer. They laid there quietly for a long while, reveling in the magnificence of the scenery and the sheer joy of knowing that they would be together forever.


End file.
